bigbill

When I first started bass fishing in the late spring we were doing really good(me and my two sons). Not thinking about the weeds I figured that bass fishing was over till the fall when the weeds die. Then i went to the BPS and CABELAS website and searched for weedless lures. There's plenty of weedless lures too. Like Sam said above too. I cast my topwater and cranks near the weedlines and the pads to draw the bass out. This way we don't spook them. I cast past the pads and work my lure close to them. I also use floating plastics on top of the weeds too. With submerged weeds I use the shallow floating crankbaits as well as poppers too.I use the cranks that have a rattle in them. I move them slowly and stop to twitch them over the weed pockets.

I watch behind my lures when I can see them most of the time. I look for short strikes or the fish making practice runs at my lures. Polarized sun glasses are as important as my rod and reel is. There is a Bill Dance video on fly fishing for bass. He is in a smaller boat and you can see the short strikes on the video but he can't see them. When you catch a bass watch the water around it. I see bigger bass swimming by most of the time. I call these ghost bass because we hardly ever see them. Having these glasses does help. Even a cheap pair of these polarized glasses at Wal-Mart of from eBay will work. Watch for sales. Not wearing polarized glasses is like going hunting with no bullets. I wear my favorite hat, glasses when I go fishing. For at night the Amber colored glasses brighten up the darkness and cut down the glare from on coming headlites on a motorcycle it could Save your life having better vision.

Fishing from shore is my main thing. The difference between fishing from shore and a boat is its only backwards. Think about it we cast out from shore and cast to the shore from a boat. Both directions does work. I would suggest getting more into the bass sized lures it will keep the smaller pesky fish away. But when using lets say a #3 mepps inline and the bass bite slows down try a mepps #4 or #5. I do find the larger fish get noisy and will cruise into see what the smaller fish are hitting on. But they wont strike the smaller lures. You can pick out the larger fish just go slow. We do rent boats at times.

I'm never confident at all, well not fully. I practice all the time mainly with what I use most of the time. Even at 62 years old I'm still learning. My very first day out with a jig & pig i casted it down a rocky point off the low bridge next to the channel. As I hopped it up to the shore line a bass hit it right away on the first cast. I stayed with it for a while just to get the presentation down. I use the rocky point to my advantage by casting down it, fan casting it parallel. With any new lure and presentation just ask here first or watch the video's over and over listen to what they say and watch what they do with the rod. The presentation is very important. I go here first then to you tube , Glenn is on there too. Then go out and try it. These guys are spot on.

I fish in smaller places that are dammed rivers that the streams are runoff from larger lakes here. They were used for water power in the 1700 & 1800's. The water power stuff is long gone. But we have the rocky earth dam and drop offs. My point is after a busy weekend on the lake with boats I see an oil mist on the top of the water from the two stroke boat engines. My fishing buddy's thought it was me using my scents when their not there. My point is there is enough oil in the water already. No flame intended. We did purchase one of those briggs & Stratton 4 stroke outboards were we rent boats we can use our own engine. We love this engine and we putt around the lake enjoying the ride too. No more oars for me. I been caught in micro bursts with oars.

Why not look at the reel & rod combos at Dicks Sporting goods being offered? For my light weight lures I have more fun with a cheap 5'6" light to med action rod with a spinning reel using 6 lb test copolymer line. I love it when a bass bends the rod.

Remember new products to the market are beyond cheap till they get a foot in the door sort of speak. Then they will raise the cost little by little once they find a nitch To me there colors look great and some have the Orange bottoms I'm a looking for. For around $5 for a lot of 2 to 5 lures on eBay that's not bad. It can get a youngster fishing lures for sure or anyone on a tight budget. With some lures here hitting $10 I can't justify buying them or losing them. I do have some expensive lures like lucky strike and high roller but I fish them very Carefully not to lose them. They do catch fish. I don't have many but a few with the Orange bottom. Remember what's new and cheap today will be expensive tomorrow. I would buy them now I see the amount we get for $5 starting to change already. I have to add there colors do look awesome in person. Since all my favorite lures that produce fish and are my go to lures are being discontinued I need to move on and look ahead to what's new graphics wise from another manufacturer. The graphics that are offered here today just don't work for me. We see foxy this, shady that but where's the color? Fish eat natural colored fish in the wilds.

I just purchased some Chinese bass lures that don't look that bad. The fit and finish appears ok. The top water skimmer even has a rattle in it too. I been looking for a topwater lure to replace my BPS Topnocker color wise. There are no spooks to match it. I wish I knew who manufactured the topnocker I'd order some. To me it's the hottest topwater lure of all time. Nothing comes close to it, nothing. Of course BPS discontinued it. I wish China would make it I'd even supply a sample to copy.

After being sick for a few years just being out there more wetting my lines while trying to drown my lures will be ok with me. Soon I'll be out there again looking to break the state record. This would be the year to do it then I can relax and just fish.

After being sick for a few years just being out there more wetting my lines while trying to drown my lures will be ok with me. Soon I'll be out there again looking to break the state record. This would be the year to do it then I can relax and just fish.

I purchased the surplus military Swiss camo ponchos for my son's. I think they were $5each.

Bass are predators so will eat the younger fish as will any predator. Everyone was so scared about the snake fish in our waters. I figure with the bass, the pickerel, the northern pike and muskies in our waters who do you think will lose? The bigger northern pike and Muskies have attacked people in the shallows.

I figure the plastic lures are coated with the release agent from when they were manufactured in the plastic injection machine.

I wash my tackle boxes and my lures once a season. This way there free from all the foul oders. Again I wash my hands all the time too. My buddy has success with the gulp stuff all the time. It hasn't worked for me yet. The bang scents worked ok. But the estimate is tops to me. I wish they still offered it in all the flavors. Fishing the same places over and over I figure the fish learn our lures and scents. I switch to garlic scent and the bite seems to pick up. I guess they may get tired of the same bass scent all the time?

To Scent or not to Scent????? When I got into this sport of bass fishing at about 45years old being a trout only guy since I was a kid at six yo. fishing my older brother growing up in NJ. Now at 45 I lived and ate plus read it all on bass fishing then we went out and applied it. Everything we read and tried really works. I do wash my hands before going fishing using the big orange had cleaner to remove any foul orders from my hands. Scents, I purchased every brand of scents that Wal-Mart had. I wanted to test scents to see if anyone is better than the rest. I purchased every flavor in the Baitmate brand from the original bass scent , the crawfish scent, live crawler (worm) scent. Garlic and minnow scent etc. The test, I would load up my topwater lure and throw it out as far as I could into the channel off a low bridge with the current flowing away from me. Sometimes I would squirt the water below me once. I actually caught fish on most of my lures. I would use the salted plastics like senkos wacky rigged on weedless hooks at first with no scent. If I had a strike and a miss the weedless barb would come up open. This way I knew I had a bite. I would then scent the senko and toss it in the same place and be ready to set the hook. I would bet my life on the results using the scent this way i got hook ups all the time after misses that don't happen that often. One night on this bridge this area is crowded with all fisherman and fisherwoman too. I was new there. I put on my crankbait shot some scent on it as a guy walked over to me and asked if that lure worked as Achilles up a 2 1/2 to 3lb bass before I could answer him. He then says I guess it does answering his own question. Then I shot the lure again with scent and he asked if that scent worked, again before I could answer him I landed another bass of the same size. Again he also said I guess that scent does work. All the people there watched me land about 5 nice bass that night fishing in the channel using scents. Downfall using scents, As I fished more there I guess the water became more scented attracting more fish. Son after everyone who threw bass lures caught 1 or 2 bass at night. I stopped using so much scent figuring my test was complete. But every nite the guys who watched me catching bass showed up the next night with new fishing rods & reels, plus tackle boxes and lures plus they had scents too. They all caught bass too. Thank God they put them back. Now I purchased all these scents to test them but never got past the baitmate brand at first. I did find some riverside craw scent on clearance once when I couldn't find the baitmate craw. It worked too along with the yum shad and crawfish scent too. All the baitmate flavors worked too. I put the proper scent on the right bait. So does scents really work? You bet it does. Just buy one and try it. My son went out on a party boat fishing saltwater for blues. I gave him some BANG shrimp scent to use on his diamond jigs. The firstmate told him that stuff doesn't work as he pulled up a blue fish right away. This was a free test for me. I just load up my topwater lure first cast to get the water scented. Then I put a tad on each lure. I did change my evening fishing to early morning fishing to get away from people crashing the water with saltwater sized lead sinkers. Plus I found the bass are bigger in the early AM bite over the early evening bite. But in the early AM darkness is fun to work in plus we need to be very stealthy in the quietness too. We can spook fish from banging stuff on land. Fishing in darkness also makes me keep an order in my tackle box too. Its hard enough trying to find lures in the dark. God bless, BigBill .

I find the fish in rivers much stronger than fish in ponds & lakes probably because there swimming all the Time fighting the currents. When we use the crawfish crankbaits we hold the rod tip up to let it float to keep it out of the rocks. We also use the panther Martin spinfly too. I cast all my lures so they go behind the rocks down stream where the pools are. This is we're the fish hide in the still water waiting for something to eat to get pulled into the pool. I even bring the lures up and over the rocks so they can Fall into the pools too. I think both the crawfish crank and the smaller inline spinners & spinfly are two of my best lures so far in rivers. I never tried a spinner bait yet but that sounds great to avoid hang ups too. I fish the shallow part of the river that has deep and shallow pools. My biggest bass so far fishing this type of condition is 3lbs. I have no clue how this fish survived so long in the shallows.

Fishing from shore I Find the bass big near the shoreline ambushing bait early AM am from dark till first light. They tend to move to a mid point once its light. But they head to deeper water and cover by 8 to 9am. If not sooner. The shoreline topwater and crankbait seems to drop off. I usually go deeper to a split shot rigged worm or a Carolina rigged senko or a jig n pig (football 3/8oz jig with a pork trailer). I tend to work the Rocky points and the weedline. My PB was caught two feet from shore casting parallel with the shoreline. No w from a boat your looking for a thermocline with the right PH closer to 7 is what you want.

​There are a few of us retired guys who fish the same places. In one spot we all lost lures to something that just hits so violent it snaps the line before I can set the hook. I always lose the rapala #7 in blue. I'm not sure how many lures I lost but it's many between us. I'm sure this fish has a box full of them. The strike seems to be full steam ahead from the side when it hits, it's different. I been wondering if it's an otter?

One day I remember now I left 5 New lures in the trees I guess I was in a hurry to fish. It was an expensive day that day. I haven't done that since. I don't rush anymore.

I mentioned this because if it works for me it has to work for you too. I fish a few places that are within minutes of each other. One lure that works in one place seems to work in the others too. Again all lures work but some see to be hotter than others. It pays off to pay attention to lure colors. Try the chartreuse color on an overcast day or stained/muddy water too.

I understand what you mean. one time about 40+ years ago we were fishing from shore when a boater came so close on a joy ride he actually cut our lines. My buddy just got home from nam and was unwinding from the war. He got so mad he picked up a rock and hit the operator in the head it happened that quickly. We were all stunned he hit the guy. Luckily no one was hurt just our lines were cut. If I had a chance to stop him I'd of done it but it happen so fast. The bottom line is we all need our space plus we need to respect each other. There is no way to make it right I guess. I fish from shore mainly(handicapped) where no boats are permitted. Mainly small places. I'm happy shore fishing I have a chance in seconds to pack up and move to another body of water that's close by in minutes. I kind of like that.

One of my number 1 crankbaits is the rebel BIG CLAW crawfish crankbait in chartreuse. Or match the color of your area. They come in most colors. Make sure you get the BIG CLAW. We use the smaller ones in rivers. www.mistertwister.com has a clearance on there's right now but I never tried them yet. They do look good color wise.

One day on a farm pond in VT a kid was throwing live frogs he caught in the bass pond. The frog would slowly sink as it froze in the water. When out of the darkness a bass would come and eat it. He did this about 10 times or so and each frog would freeze, slowly fall then get eaten. To me never fishing with frogs yet there are topwater frogs And sinking frogs. Try a crank n pause or let it sit or twitch it.

Even KVD has a combo c LECTOR in his boat for tough days. I was new to bass fishing and wanted to get a head start on knowledge. I seen the Bill Dance show were he mentions the color c LECTOR. I read about Dr. Loren Hill of ok.unv. it tool him 10 years to develope it. Being a skeptic too I purchased one and tested it. Now it sits with two others. I kind of collect them too. I have a color c LECTOR with the matching tackle box from Fenwick. The box has colors numbered to the selector. It's part of fishing history. I look forward to buying the new color c LECTOR just to test it too.

I buy when there on sale or clearance mainly. I hit Wal-Mart for there spring clearance and markdowns. One problem I have is when a new lure works great then I order more on every BPS or Lurenet order. I give them to my kids and friends too.